CHAPTER 26

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This story takes place before the recent events in War of the Guardians involving Rose.

Rose's TARDIS appeared a few feet away from Donna's. She wanted to surprise whatever old friend of hers was waiting for her. She could have easily found out who it was using Bad Wolf, but she had decided not to. Where would be the fun in that? She liked to have a little mystery in her life sometimes.

She kept walking until she saw Donna and the Bad Wolves, she still cringed when she heard them call themselves that, just up the street ahead of her. None of them had seen her yet so she turned herself invisible and walked closer to them. She soon saw that it was her old friend and the Doctor's, K'anpo. She smiled one of her huge grins upon seeing her old friend again.

The two of them had gone to see K'anpo many times back on Gallifrey. He had lived by himself and stayed away from the rest of the Time Lords. The old hermit was known throughout Gallifrey as a little bit of an eccentric and someone of a less than stellar reputation. This had made both of them want to see him even more.

They had soon learned much from him and had grown much wiser and much more observant as a result of knowing him. He had helped to expand their minds as he had taught both of them to think of life in new ways and to appreciate the little things that the other Time Lords sometimes took for granted. In other words, he was their mentor and their guru all wrapped up into one during their formative years at the Academy together.

Rose saw someone else who looked familiar too, and then she realized that she had seen her picture in old holograms on the TARDIS. This was Melanie Bush, who had traveled with the Doctor right before Ace. She already looked forward to meeting her. She always loved meeting the Doctor's old companions and hearing stories about the days before he found her again. She was always curious as to what he had been like when she hadn't been there.

Then she noticed with shock that another one of the people was an older Ace. What was she doing here? Rose wondered.

I decided to have some fun again after the Wolves came to Perivale. Donna asked me to stay on so I did. Older Ace's voice said in Rose's head.

Rose could see now that the older Ace was looking right at her. She could still see her while she was invisible with her Vortex powers Rose realized. Obviously a future her had taught her how to use them much better than the Ace that she knew could.

It's not Ace anymore. I call myself Dorothy now. Dorothy said in Rose's mind.

Good. I always liked that name. Rose thought back.

So when are you going to let everyone else see you? Old K'anpo is really looking forward to talking to you. Dorothy asked in an amused tone.

I want to see if he and Mel can recognize me as a Time Lord. I'm using Bad Wolf to hide myself so that even another Time Lord wouldn't know what I am if I don't want them to. It could be fun! Rose responded to her with a mental chuckle.

Go ahead. I'd love to see someone pull the wool over old K'anpo's eyes. He's pretty smart and doesn't fool easily. Dorothy thought.

The two of them broke mental contact then, and Rose went around the corner of a nearby building and became visible again. Rose noticed that Mel was standing off to the side and several feet away from the others. She was so far away that she was easily out of earshot of them. She approached her from a side angle where Donna and the others couldn't see her coming.

"What are you lot all doing just standing around here for? Are you waiting for someone?" Rose asked Mel.

"Yes, we are. A friend of a friend's I guess you could say," Mel said with a friendly smile.

"That's nice. Isn't it great when you get to see old friends again? Why are you standing here off to the side for if it's a friend of a friend?" Rose asked genuinely curious.

"Well, I'm a little nervous about meeting her if the truth is told," Mel said.

"Why? Is she a disagreeable sort?" Rose asked.

"I don't think so. I've heard that she's rather nice and pleasant actually," Mel said.

Rose smiled at that as she asked, "Well, why are you so nervous then?"

"I don't know. I guess because she's this big hero, and I'm just not. She's done all of these great and wonderful things and is so courageous. I can't even work up the courage to tell someone how I really feel about them, and I've been avoiding that for years now. I think that he likes me too, but he's never spoken about it so I don't know for sure. I guess I just feel like I don't belong around someone that brave, and that she'll see me for what I really am right away. Why am I telling you this?" Mel asked, surprised at herself.

"I think I must just have a very trustworthy face. You know I knew someone just like you once. She was too afraid to tell someone that she loved them too, and he never would say anything to her about it either. The git! The two of them wasted so much time that they could have spent together as a couple that way," Rose said.

"What did she do?" Mel asked with intense interest.

"Nothing until it was already far too late to do anything about it. Then and only then did she finally tell him how she really felt. She was taken away from him by circumstances beyond her control, and she didn't get to see him again for a long time. She was trapped in another world, but she fought her way back to him. The two of them finally got together at last although not for several years more because the stupid git sent her away again thinking that that was what was best for her. There were so many years lost in the meantime though. It was all such a waste, and she often felt like that she had been a coward for not acting upon her feelings when she still could have," Rose said in a voice filled with emotion.

Mel looked at her with rapidly widening eyes as she finally started to realize who she was. Rose smiled at her and said, "You're no coward. No more of one than I am anyway. As for not liking you, I like you a lot already. You don't have to be nervous about meeting me, okay? I'm just a regular person just like you are, Mel. I'm certainly no larger than life hero."

"You're Rose?" Mel asked in shock.

"That's me," Rose said with a wide smile.

"You're nothing like I expected you to be. I thought that you would be all stiff and formal like other Time Lords that I've met. Most of them are nothing like the Doctor or K'anpo," Mel said.

"They aren't, are they? I'm not your ordinary Time Lord though, Mel. I never have been and probably never will be," Rose said with pride.

K'anpo noticed her talking to Mel then and came walking over to her with a curious expression on his face. Mel looked at Rose in terror as she feared that she was going to tell K'anpo what she had just said. Rose merely smiled mischievously at her and mimed locking her lips and throwing away the key. She wasn't going to tell! Mel realized with gratitude.

"Arkytior?" K'anpo asked.

"Hello again, K'anpo! My name is Rose these days," Rose said as she greeted her old friend with a warm smile.

"I thought that you were dead. I'm so glad to hear otherwise. To hear that you're this Rose Tyler is very strange. I thought that the stories about her must have been made up they're so larger than life. I never knew that I was hearing stories about my old friend when I used to hear the people at the bar talk about you like you were some kind of a god or something," K'anpo said as he embraced her.

"Oh, you know how the truth gets stretched by gossips until it's all bent out of shape. What are you doing hanging out in bars anyway?" Rose asked in amusement.

"There's one on our ship, and it's proven to be a very reliable source of information," K'anpo said.

"Oh, so that's your ship that's entered orbit recently. I've been observing it for signs of a possible attack on the Earth for a few days now. Luckily for you, I tend to leave alien spacecraft in orbit above the Earth alone as long as they don't bother anyone," Rose said.

"Really? Aren't you afraid that they might attack or something? Why not just go and check on them right away?" Mel asked.

"Some aliens just like to come to Earth to have a friendly visit, Mel. They're not all here to kill us all. I tend to keep my nose out of their business until I'm sure that they've crossed the line from friendly to unfriendly," Rose said.

"'Us?'" K'anpo asked.

"What?" Rose asked.

"You said that not all aliens were here to kill us all," K'anpo said as he stressed the word us.

"Yes, that's right. Not all aliens want to kill humans or conquer the Earth," Rose said.

"I'm aware of that. That's not what I meant. I meant that you referred to a collective us as though you were referring to yourself as a member of the human race," K'anpo pointed out.

"Oh, I see what you mean. I meant that I'm an inhabitant of this planet too. I live here a lot of the time after all. If you're trying to get at whether I still consider myself human or not though, then the answer is yes. I do think of myself as more of a human being then a Time Lord. Does that really matter to you?" Rose asked.

K'anpo looked shocked for a moment, but then he smiled as he said, "Not really, no. I'm just a little surprised by it, that's all. I guess I really shouldn't be though. You always were so curious about the Earth and its people. I always used to wonder if it was because you secretly wanted to be one of them, and now I think that I have my answer."

"Well, I didn't become one by choice. I was forced into it. I loved being human though, and I was much happier as a human being than I ever was as a Time Lady. I still think and feel like a human even now, and I don't think that I'm going to change that about myself anytime soon," Rose admitted.

"I never said that you should. You should do what makes you happy. Would you like to come to Iceworld then? I'd love to show you around, and we could sit at the bar and become reacquainted there. How about it?" K'anpo asked.

"I'd love that. Are you coming too, Mel?" Rose asked.

"I suppose so. Are you sure that you want me there?" Mel asked.

"I certainly do," Rose said as she winked at her.

Mel inwardly groaned as she realized that Rose wasn't letting what she had said earlier go after all. She was going to play matchmaker. She cringed at the thought of it. She didn't want K'anpo to know. What if he didn't feel the same way about her? She would die of embarrassment.

Oh, you are so much like me that's it not funny, Mel. I won't force you to tell him, but I do think that you should consider it. I'll maybe try to maneuver him around to the topic on his own, how about that? A voice that she recognized as Rose's said in her mind.

I don't think so. Just go on and have fun with him and leave me out of it, okay? Mel thought back.

Mel, please just get it all out in the open. You don't want to waste more years of your life wondering about what might have been. Trust me on that. Rose pleaded.

Mel nodded silently at her, and Rose grinned. She was going to get these two together yet. Then she frowned at herself. Since when did she become her mother?

Glitz came over to her then with a huge smile. He had no idea that she was the one that they had all been waiting on. He started to hit on her immediately.

"Well, hello there. I know a place where the sky is full of diamonds, and it looks breathtakingly beautiful at night. It's one of the Wonders of the Universe. Of course, it's nowhere near as beautiful as you are," Glitz said as he put on the charm.

"You mean Cronus VII? Yes, the sky is full of living diamonds that routinely hover around in the atmosphere in order to better communicate with each other telepathically. They go up there because it's far away from the background radiation and other contaminants of the planet. It's much better for them to hear each other that way, or so I've heard," Rose said with a grin.

"You're that Time Lady we've all been waiting on, aren't you?" Glitz asked with his face showing his disappointment.

"That's right, and I'm also very happily married," Rose said as she waved her wedding ring in his face.

"Sorry about that. I should have seen that," Glitz admitted.

"Perhaps you would have if you hadn't been so busy staring at other parts of me besides my hands," Rose said in an amused tone.

"Maybe I'll just stay here on Earth then. Sorry to bother you," Glitz said as his face turned red with embarrassment.

"You can come if you want as long as you don't hit on me again. It's your ship after all," Rose said.

Glitz smiled and nodded. He liked this woman already. She wasn't making a big deal about his mistake. She was just letting it go and also letting him save face at the same time by not raking him over the coals about it.

The four of them were then transmatted up to Iceworld and began a long evening together as Rose got to know K'anpo again and vice versa. If she could get K'anpo and Mel together by the end of that evening, then it would be all the better.

Just after Rose and the others left, Alina suddenly appeared in front of the Wolves with an army of Cheetah People that she had also turned into vampires behind her. She smirked at her enemies as she said, "Hello. As you can see, I found one of the Cheetah People who used to be human and persuaded them to take me and my other friends here back with them to Earth."

"I never should have tried to help you," Michelle said in despair.

"No, you shouldn't have because I'm going to kill you last. I want you to get to watch while I take each and every one of your friends apart," Alina threatened.

"You made a big mistake coming back here," Ileana said.

"No, you made a big mistake in staying here. You should have left when you still had the chance. Now it's too late. I'm going to kill all of you. You won't be able to stand against my new friends much less the others who I've brought back with me," Alina said.

"What are you talking about now, Fang Lady?" Donna asked.

"She's talking about us I believe, Donna Noble," a familiar voice said from behind the Cheetah People.

Donna and the others looked on in horror as they saw that Carmilla and Nicoleta were now walking toward their sister to stand with her along with a Daemon. The vampire sisters all smiled at one another as Alina said, "I used that Metabelis spider to take over a Daemon that I summoned to the Planet of the Cheetah People. The spider made him give me the power that my sisters had wanted in the first place. I used that power to bring my sisters back and to bring back another as well. I brought back someone that has wanted to take over this planet for a very, very long time."

A huge giant suddenly appeared then as it was transported by another of the Cheetah People to Earth. It wasn't just any old giant either. It was a giant vampire. In point of fact, it was one of the Great Vampires.

"Meet the King of the Great Vampires, Bad Wolves. He's wanted to come back to this world for a very, very long time now. He's just been dying to see humanity again," Alina said with a small laugh at her terrible joke.

Michelle's heart fell as she saw that her worst fears had come true. Her friends and her adopted planet were all going to be destroyed because of her stupid mistake. It had all come back to haunt her now. This whole mess was all her fault, and she was determined that she was going to fix it. Nothing was going to happen to any of her friends if she could help it. She'd die first before she allowed that to happen!

If she wasn't careful, she just might.

Next: An extremely powerful Alina and her army versus the Bad Wolves. What price will Michelle have to pay before this fight is over with? Also Rose, K'anpo, Mel, and Glitz get involved in some trouble of their own as Iceworld comes under attack.

Also, I have put up the origin story of Katherine and Amanda, A Rose By Any Other Name. Check it out if you'd like to know about how a human girl came to be raised by a vampire. It also has appearances by Ileana, Abraham, and Alina and her sisters. It may have a certain familiar blonde in it as well.